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Mail & Guardian
14-06-2025
- Politics
- Mail & Guardian
We need to rebuild the idea of the public
The struggle against white rule in South Africa was always grounded in a shared conviction — across organisations, ideologies and forms of struggle — that the country to come would not only end white supremacy, but would also be fundamentally just. The declarations of the Freedom Charter are seldom recalled today but this confidence is powerfully expressed in a still famous remark by Steve Biko: 'In time, we shall be in a position to bestow on South Africa the greatest possible gift — a more human face.' For many years after apartheid it was widely thought that, although we faced many serious problems, time was on the side of progress and justice. Jacob Zuma's cynical, violent, lying kleptocracy put an end to that and we have not been able to recover it. Impoverishment and inequality are worsening. More than 40% of people are without work — with over 60% of young people affected. It has been years since we last had any meaningful economic growth. Rural land reform has not been a success. The struggle for urban land is frequently met with criminalisation and violence. More than a fifth of our people do not have enough food. Almost 30% of children under five suffer from stunted growth. More than 11 000 children die of malnutrition each year. Public institutions — from schools to hospitals — and essential infrastructure like the rail network are in a dire state. Many municipalities have collapsed, and we endure one of the highest murder rates in the world. Extortion is endemic. People are desperate and in KwaZulu-Natal there is enthusiastic public support for the now regular executions by the police. While the capture of the state for private gain is no longer centrally directed, it continues — and in many cases worsens — through shifting, decentralised networks, some of which are well described as mafias. There is a systemic intersection of politics and criminality, and it is this, not ideology, that drives most political assassinations. Many of our laws and policies are an expression, even if modest, of an aspiration for a more just society. But while laws and policies matter, the decisive factor in whether we are able to move forward will be political will. If the right forms of political will are not developed, organised and mobilised — if democracy does not make significant progress in resolving our crisis — there is a significant risk that the crisis will further corrode or even explode democracy. As the legitimacy of the current order declines, there is, as is happening across much of the world, an active attempt to scapegoat migrants for the crisis. This process is accelerated by the now-endemic fake news on social media. This turn to a politics of cruelty cannot offer anything but the pleasures of public sadism as compensation for social suffering. It is also a politics of deflection that pulls attention away from the real issues we confront. Xenophobia builds a toxic sense of the nation as determined by exclusion rather than a positive aspiration. This is a problem wherever xenophobia is incited and exploited, but in South Africa — where the nation was forged in struggle against oppression — it means xenophobia is often entangled with some of the language and sentiment of the idea of national liberation, an idea with deep legitimacy. The same is often true of the now systemic and deeply embedded forms of predation on the state. Because they enable accumulation by previously oppressed and excluded people, they are often experienced and presented as a continuation of the national liberation struggle. This means that competing ideas of how we understand that struggle are themselves a key site of struggle. There is a reason Frantz Fanon — and many great thinkers in the movement of African emancipation, such as Amílcar Cabral and Ngugi wa Thiong'o among others — insisted on the need to confront predatory national elites as well as colonialism and imperialism. Fanon's observation that 'the sole motto of the bourgeoisie is 'Replace the foreigner'' and that this is taken up by 'the 'small people' of the nation' as xenophobia speaks directly to the limits of some forms of elite politics today. But along with these attempts to turn the idea of national liberation into what Fanon calls chauvinism, we also face an increasingly strident, and often white-led, demand to put an end to the idea of national liberation. This often includes a demand for the standard set of neoliberal measures — privatisation, austerity, commodification, undoing labour rights, doing away with racial redress and all the rest. The primary desire is to more fully subordinate society to the market. Building a viable political project against these contesting elites requires more than just developing a popular project. Gayton McKenzie, Zuma, Herman Mashaba and others are trying to build populist forms of often hard-right authoritarianism. Challenging the capture of the idea of national liberation by predatory elites and the attempts to consign national liberation — and all ideas of collective emancipation — to history by rival elites requires, among other things, a strong and inclusive commitment to the idea of the public and the public good. To recover a sense of shared future and rebuild trust in democratic life, we need to place the idea of the public at the centre of our political imagination. While bureaucratic and technical systems are important, the fundamental task is to build a moral and political vision of shared life, of dignity, solidarity and social rights. State services and institutions with a social function, such as health and education, can only be nurtured and defended if they are embedded in a shared sense of purpose. To recover a robust idea of the public — and thereby public services and institutions — we need to understand it as both virtue and entitlement. As entitlement, it means that everyone has the right to housing, clean water, good schools, healthcare, transport and public space. As virtue, the idea of the public demands a culture of stewardship, care and responsibility. We need to aspire to what the American activist and intellectual Ruth Wilson Gilmore calls 'life-affirming institutions', an infrastructure that prioritises care, enables flourishing and anchors people in the collective affirmation of dignity. Ultimately this requires a sense of politics as the creation of a shared world, a world where public services and institutions are not crumbling, corrupt or humiliating, but sources of shared belonging and dignity. Public money has to be understood as public wealth. Theft from public wealth has to be understood as theft from the people. Public institutions have to be understood as critical parts of the infrastructure of freedom. These kinds of ideals are never fully achieved, but in many societies political projects have been built that have enabled gains towards affirming an idea of the public and translating it into institutions that support its realisation. This includes countries in the Global South that have built impressive healthcare systems, public transport, education and more. In the early 2000s the Treatment Action Campaign made hugely important progress in building an idea of public healthcare, and then realising huge gains in the health system. Over the past 20 years Abahlali baseMjondolo, a very different kind of organisation, has made significant gains in challenging exclusionary forms of urbanism. None of the contenders for influence in the intra-elite battles over the future of our society has any meaningful interest in building a democratic and strong sense of the public. If we are to make progress towards this, we will require a lot more of the patient labour of organising and building progressive ideas and power from below. Richard Pithouse is distinguished research fellow at the Global Centre for Advanced Studies, an international research scholar at the University of Connecticut and professor at large at the University of the Western Cape.
Zawya
28-05-2025
- Business
- Zawya
South Africa: How to use land reform programmes to drive job creation and economic inclusion?
Thirty-one years since the dawn of democracy, public discourse has been characterised by heated discussions on the land question, while scant attention has been paid to the support that successful land claimants require to ensure the long-term economic viability of their newly acquired assets. When South Africans from all walks of life commemorated Freedom Day on 27 April, many took time to reflect on the gains achieved since the dawn of democracy. There was broad agreement that the unresolved issue of land dispossession remains a major challenge in our political and social landscape. For many communities still landless due to past injustices and forced removals, any celebration of political freedom remains incomplete. Land Reform: A moral, political, and economic imperative Undoubtedly, the resolution of the land question is not only morally and politically right, but it is also an economic imperative in a country that has gained the reputation of being ranked the most unequal society in the world by the World Bank. A staggering 41,9% of our population swell the ranks of the unemployed in the fourth quarter of 2024 according to StatsSA's expanded definition of unemployment, which includes those discouraged from seeking work. The increasingly uncertain geopolitical developments and the looming threat of US-initiated trade wars and soaring tariffs are cause for concern. Added to this is the possible termination of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which grants African nations duty-free access to the US market. These challenges strengthen the case for not only an accelerated land reform programme, but also the deliberate enablement of rural economies. It's vital to empower beneficiary communities to make their land productive so they can actively participate in commercial agriculture, eco-tourism, and other economic activities within the land value chain. The potential of land ownership to slam the brakes on the scourge of unemployment and deepening levels of poverty has been acknowledged by the National Development Plan (NDP), which envisaged agriculture as the sector that has the potential to create close to 1 million new jobs by 2030. Importance of post-settlement support The attainment of this ambitious plan hinges on the implementation of tailored, post-settlement support programmes that can attract much-needed investment and on fostering skills transfer and development and ensuring financial sustainability of the land. Whilst there has been criticism levelled at the pace of land reform, the pockets of achievement and progress made thus far prove that a successful land reform programme can be a catalyst for job creation and skills development. As an organisation that has worked at the coalface of the land reform programme for nearly 15 years, Vumelana Advisory Fund has changed the narrative of the land reform programme by helping claimant communities who acquire land under the land reform programme to successfully develop their land through partnerships to create jobs, boost incomes, develop communities and enable the transfer of skills. By helping these communities to raise capital to develop the land, transferring skills to help them to effectively manage the business, we have enabled beneficiary communities to bring the transferred land into effective economic use. Proof points of reform and job creation Since our inception, we have supported 26 land reform projects, leveraging our transaction advisory support programme and capacity building and institutional support programme. The programme provides the beneficiary communities with access to required resources while negating the need to give up ownership of the land or wait for government grants. The transaction advisory support programme facilitates commercially viable, mutually beneficial partnerships between land reform beneficiary communities and private investors that create jobs, generate income and transfer skills. These successful land reform programmes include the 151-hectare Moletele-Matuma farm in Limpopo, the Barokologadi-ERP Melorane Game Reserve partnership in North West, and the Mkambati Nature Reserve Tourism partnership. Through these interventions, we've collectively created over 2,500 jobs, benefited more than 16,000 households, mobilised over R1 billion in investments, and developed approximately 76,000 hectares of land. A successful land reform programme using Vumelana's partnership model could go a long way in significantly reducing the vulnerability and food insecurity of the rural population, who make up one-third of the population, as well as for some urban residents. Enhancing employment and thus incomes is one key thrust of pro-poor land reform. It is critical to develop innovative ways of financing land reform. Similarly, we need to develop effective mechanisms in conjunction with the finance sector which can address restrictions on access to affordable finance. Government must play its part as an enabler to create an enabling environment and actively promote partnerships. In our submission for discussion at a colloquium of NEDLAC partners in preparation for a jobs summit planned for September 2018, we argued that public funding falls short of driving a comprehensive land reform programme. In properly structured partnerships, private partners of land reform beneficiaries can raise finance off their balance sheets or in the capital market. This could expand the job creation potential of land reform projects. In a review of just 25 projects, mainly in tourism and agriculture, that cover about 100,000 hectares and benefit 25,000 households, Vumelana estimates that 5,500 jobs would be created based on about R1.2 billion of private investment. Thus, the creation of a fund to finance transaction advisory and other post-settlement support services that would attract private investment into the land reform programme could have a significant impact on job creation. Looking ahead Thankfully, there is growing recognition that land reform cannot be viewed in isolation from broader economic development. When communities gain access to land, that is only the beginning. The challenge — and opportunity — lies in ensuring that the land becomes a source of economic benefit, creates jobs, exposes communities to access markets and enables skills development. The conversation about land reform should not be limited to who owns the land, but it should also focus on how that land is used, and whether it delivers meaningful benefits for the communities who fought to reclaim it. Far greater attention needs to be paid to what happens after land has been transferred. Through the partnerships we have facilitated between beneficiary communities and private sector investors, we have redefined the narrative of the land reform programme and provided a living testament of a resoundingly successful land reform outcome. We don't have to reinvent the wheel. We already have a winning formula that we can build upon to leverage the land reform programme into a formidable initiative that can generate positive and far-reaching social and economic benefits for everyone. All rights reserved. © 2022. Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (
Mail & Guardian
19-05-2025
- Politics
- Mail & Guardian
Malema says Afrikaner asylum seekers look like ‘car guards', not farmers
Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema says none of the Afrikaners who left South Africa for the United States last week under refugee status are farmers, but instead appeared to be "car guards'. Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema says none of the Afrikaners who left South Africa for the United States last week under refugee status are farmers, but instead appeared to be 'car guards'. Malema made the remarks while addressing scores of EFF supporters outside the Union Buildings on Monday ahead of a march to the treasury. He said anyone who had ties with the 49 Afrikaners should provide their addresses so that their status as farmers could be verified. 'We don't have a problem. People left voluntarily, we are just asking for the addresses of those farms that they left. We will make a plan for them. We cannot allow for land not to be used. 'If they are real farmers, why is the media not giving us the list of the farms that were left by farmers who went to America? Nothing looked like a farmer among those people. They looked like car guards.' The extension of refugee status to Afrikaners was done by US president Donald Trump earlier this year. The policy has also been extended to other minorities in South Africa who could show 'either a history of persecution or a credible fear of future persecution'. Since his first term in office, Trump has maintained that Afrikaner farmers are being attacked because of their race. He has, on several occasions, referred to white farmers as being victims of 'genocide'. Farm killings remain an emotive topic in the country, which is riddled with excessive levels of violent crime. In March, the constitutional court, South Africa's apex court, refused AfriForum leave to appeal against a supreme court ruling that the song The song is often sung by Malema – who has made inflammatory remarks about white and Indian South Africans – at EFF gatherings. President Cyril Ramaphosa is set to meet Trump on Wednesday where, among other things, the notion of 'white genocide' and Afrikaner persecution are expected to be discussed. Speaking to journalists on Saturday, Ramaphosa said there was no genocide in South Africa, a fact that was borne out by evidence. He told the journalists that the two trading partners would be talking trade. 'Just as he [ Trump] meets with other people and I also meet with other people, it's state to state [and] we're representing our people. We are going to have good discussions on trade,' he said. Speaking to his party supporters on Monday, Malema said Ramaphosa would be disrespected in the US. 'Those people know that there's no white person being killed in South Africa, but they use it to make us change our policies.' He said South Africans must reject the 'propaganda'. Should there have been murders of white people because of their race or because they were farmers, those pushing the narrative would have been the first to leave, he said. 'Why is [AfriForum chief executive Kallie] Kriel not going to America, because he is the one who claims that people are being killed? He must lead by example and go to America, [former AfriForum deputy chief executive Ernst] Roets must lead by example and go to America.' 'They can't go because they live a very good life here. When they go to America, they are going to become hobos with immediate effect,' said Malema.
